The Israeli military on Tuesday said it killed three Hamas members in an air strike near the occupied West Bank city of Tubas, after the Palestinian health ministry reported two dead.

"Three Hamas terrorists who planned an imminent terrorist attack were eliminated" when the Israeli air force struck vehicles in the Aqaba area near Tubas, the military said.

Following the strike, "soldiers conducted a targeted raid in the vicinity of the strike, locating four weapons," it added.

In Libya, a shortage of cash in the banking system has pushed many to turn to cards for payments after more than a decade of war and instability has hammered the country's financial system.

Across most Libyan cities, withdrawing money is akin to an obstacle course in which hundreds wait, often for hours, outside heavily guarded banks for a turn to take out cash.

But the money all too often runs out early due to short supply.

Mistrust in that system means money is rarely reinjected back into banks, with Libyans preferring instead to keep cash on hand.

Syrian rebel forces arrived at the gates of the key city of Hama on Tuesday, as their fighting with the military sparked "a large wave of displacement", a war monitor said.

The Islamist-led rebels were advancing on Syria's fourth-largest city, buoyed by their lightning capture of swathes of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm.

The sudden flare-up in the more than decade-old civil war in Syria drew appeals for de-escalation from across the international community.

Faced with major food shortages after nearly 14 months of war, Palestinians describe long days hunting for flour and bread in the conflict-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Every morning crowds form outside the few bakeries open in the Palestinian territory, as people desperately try to get a bag of bread at distribution points.

Since the outbreak of war in Gaza last year, charities and international aid organisations have repeatedly warned of crisis levels of hunger for nearly two million people.

Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Tuesday begins a two-day state visit to Britain hosted by King Charles III as the UK aims to seal a trade deal with the oil-rich Gulf states.

The visit by the emir, 44, and his consort, Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad Al Thani, will include a state banquet at Buckingham Palace and talks at Downing Street with the country's Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The surprise resurgence of Syria's civil war is shaking the table for the United States, which tried to turn the page years ago on a devastating conflict where it saw few good outcomes.

The latest turmoil in a chaotic region comes less than a couple months before the return of President-elect Donald Trump, whose team could see an unexpected opportunity as part of its bid to reshape the Middle East, albeit with plenty of question marks.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned Gaza militants of massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office.

The threat comes after exhaustive diplomacy by outgoing President Joe Biden's administration that has so far failed to secure a deal that would both end Israel's war in Gaza and free hostages seized 14 months ago.

Turkey could be one of the big winners from the new Syria crisis, giving it a chance to tackle its Syrian refugee problem and the Kurdish threat along its border, observers say.

Although Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spurned an offer of help from his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara now appears to have an increasingly important role in decisions that will affect Syria's immediate future.

- What role did Turkey play in the new rebel offensive?

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was "alarmed" by the escalation of violence in Syria and called for an immediate end to fighting that his organization says has displaced nearly 50,000 people.

"All parties must do their utmost to protect civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing safe passage to civilians who are fleeing hostilities," Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a strategic partnership on Monday aimed at deepening bilateral ties and de-escalating conflict in the Middle East, including Lebanon, where the two leaders called for presidential elections.

The French leader arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for a three-day state visit just as a political crisis threatens to topple the French government.